


begin again

by Brococonut



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Asami/Mako (mentioned), F/F, Korra/Mako (mentioned) - Freeform, another sappy coffee shop au, honestly idk what to tag this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:48:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28976148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brococonut/pseuds/Brococonut
Summary: After yet another late night in the office, contemplating everything that had led her to this point in her life, Asami decides to take a coffee break at the new café across the street. A change of scenery, even more caffeine, and some toast Opal raves about at least once a week should help clear her mind, right?Cue the hottest barista to probably ever live serving Asami the most delicious latte she'd ever had.(and no, there definitely wasn't any gay reason why she knew that before even tasting the drink)
Relationships: Korra/Asami Sato
Comments: 7
Kudos: 65





	begin again

_ November 16th _

Asami was used to disappointment.

Not in a ‘woe-is-me, my life is horrible kind of way’ - in fact, in many ways, Asami was lucky. She ran her own Fortune 500 company, lived in a nice house, drove a nice car and had good colleagues around her. 

She had Opal (and by default, Bolin) to rely on when she got too work obsessed. Thus leading her to Mako, a relationship she knew wasn’t particularly healthy but she found herself falling back to more often than she'd like to admit. Chief Beifong, who kept security at her workplace and events, and secretly loved the sweet cinnamon latte Asami brought her every Wednesday morning (though she’d never concede to it). Zhu Li, who kept her from running like a possum chicken with its head cut off when things got too hectic, work life and otherwise.

She was thankful for them, she really was. But she couldn’t help but feel she was missing something… well,  _ deeper _ . 

Or maybe it was the fifteenth design spreadsheet of the day getting to her.

She was working too damn much.

So cut to a Friday at 11:23 P.M., where she sat at her desk doing work instead of doing... Literally anything else.

At least no one could say Asami wasn’t dedicated to her craft. But sitting alone in her huge office, everyone else having gone home, her loneliness would hit her sometimes (even if she didn't want to admit it). She  _ really  _ needed to get out more. Not working left her too much time to think about the sorry state her social and love life was in, but working all the time was the  _ reason _ she had no social or love life. 

Well, most of the reason.

At least half of it. 

So, Asami did what Asami did best. She decided she would drink some coffee and ruminate over where to take her life next before she inevitably continued on in the same manner she had been. A coffee shop had opened sometime in the last year right across the street from Future Industries, and they were open until 2 A.M. to accommodate for the Republic City University students three blocks over who survived off of caffeine and cheap meals. 11:23 P.M. on a Friday seemed like the perfect time to try it out. 

Thus, she began her trek down 23 floors of Future Industries Headquarters (by elevator, she wasn’t  _ that _ masochistic) and the short walk to The Grind. Republic City’s nightlife was in full swing on Friday night, so she tried not to feel out of place walking down the street fully dressed in her business professional blazer and skirt next to the casual clubbing and college outfits around her. The music playing through her earbuds helped her drown her thoughts out.

_The Grind_ had a cute little outdoor area, with a small iron fence complete with yellow flowers and greenery that nicely wrapped around it’s black rods. As she walked in, she immediately noticed the string lights that hung loosely from the ceiling, most of them a soft yellow with a couple of rainbow ones strewn in at random. The combination of the soft lights, dark wood floors and red brick walls made her feel a little more at peace, along with the few people chatting and studying at tables around her. Eyeing their menu, she could practically taste the avocado toast Opal and Bolin raved about so much before she could even order it.

She decided to treat herself to a coconut caramel latte with her toast and chose a seat next to the bar while she waited for her order to come out. Asami had no qualms about being alone - between her mother’s passing at 6 and her father’s jailing at 18, she had made few friends along the way, and the dead couldn’t speak. It was only at times like this when she observed all the social people around her that she felt somewhat of a longing to simply  _ know  _ more people. Opal was the best friend she could ask for, and her colleagues were all sweet as could be, but sometimes it just… didn’t feel like enough.

It wasn't sad, not really. It was just how it was. Asami didn’t believe in true love, she wasn't meant to spend her days out with someone who could fully ‘get’ her. Her mother had died, her father was jailed, and every relationship she’d had ended in failure. She didn’t want to feel sorry for herself, she just wanted to accept it. Some people just weren’t made for love, and maybe Asami was just one of those people.

But wasn't that okay? She knew she should just be happy with what she had and move on with it. So she did.

Most of the time.

Sure, she got “crushes”, but it never turned into anything serious. There had been Aki in third grade, who tripped her during recess and later tried to make up for it by giving her his left over lunch money. Kwan, in sixth grade, who let her kiss him on the mouth but had zero interest in her past her lips. Chongan, in middle school, where she finally realized  _ damn, maybe wanting to make out with my girl best friend _ is  _ kinda gay.  _ More high school flings, figuring out her sexuality, and, of course, her relationship with Mako that lasted the longest and ‘ended’ with him cheating on her.

Not a necessarily fond walk down memory lane. While drowning in her own thoughts, she failed to notice the woman bringing over food until she was standing right in front of her. 

“Working late, huh?”

Asami looked up abruptly, realizing she had been caught up in her own head again. And what a sight for sore eyes she was met with. Asami stared, mesmerized as tan arms lifted her two plates down to the table, noticing the dark blue tattooed band that wrapped around her tan, (very nicely toned), bicep. Her hair fell simply yet cutely at her shoulders and her blue eyes shone as she made direct eye contact with Asami. Her name tag read “Korra”, a name Asami hadn’t heard before.

It was then Asami realized she’d just been staring at her like a freak for a good fifteen seconds.

“Oh! Oh, yeah, haha, you know… just working too much, per usual.”  _ Per usual? Way to expose the life you don’t have in the first five seconds of the conversation. _

“I hear that. I’ve been here since noon and I’m closing out tonight.” Korra sighed, running her now vacant hand through her shiny hair. “But the grind doesn’t stop, right?” She smirked, clearly satisfied with her own pun. 

Asami _definitely_ laughed harder than she probably should have. 

“I hate to admit it, but you’re certainly not wrong. You must be exhausted though, I hope the rest of the night goes smoothly for you.” and Asami had no idea why, but she hoped with everything in her Korra received the sentiment behind her words as sincerely as she meant them. 

“Well, when nice girls like you are the ones I’m serving, it usually will.” and Korra shot her a genuine, gummy smile as she started to turn, and by God that must’ve been the most radiant sight Asami had ever seen.

What was wrong with her?

“Just let me know if you need anything else.”

And the CEO found herself too engrossed in thought at the woman in front of her to even offer a reply. 

Finishing her latte and toast way faster than her pre-anxiety driven mind had planned, she made sure to leave a twenty dollar bill in the tip jar before she left.

Hopefully by some strange miracle Korra would look at it as she was closing up and know it was from her.

**Author's Note:**

> ahhh well i've been working on this for forever... i've never written anything multi chaptered, and i have no idea how this will go but im GOING OUT ON A LIMB AND UPLOADING THE FIRST CHAPTER ANYWAYS. this was obviously mostly some background for lil hardworking (lonely) asami but of course we'll be getting prgressively more ~gay~ in the future. if you enjoyed, please take the time to let me know, it'd make me super happy !!


End file.
